Middle East

By Julia Gledhill and William D. Hartung ( Tomdispatch.com ) – The White House released its budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2025 on March 11th, and the news was depressingly familiar: $895 billion for the Pentagon and work on nuclear weapons at the Department of Energy. After adjusting for inflation, that’s only slightly less than […]

Apartheid

As Israel defies UNSC demand for Gaza Ceasefire, UN Human Rights Body slams ongoing “Genocide”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The UN Security Council has finally passed a ceasefire resolution for Gaza, from which the US abstained, so it was passed by the other 14 members. Although UNSC resolutions are binding, and countries like Iraq and Iran have been severely punished for disobeying them, the US is running interference for […]

Culture

The Music of the late Iranian Singer Faramarz Aslani, Forced into Exile by a Puritan Revolution

Fariba Amini

Newark, Del. (Special to Informed Comment) – Amidst war and genocide in Ukraine and in Gaza, a new spring came along. For millions of Persian-speaking people, March 19 marked the beginning of Nowruz or new day this year. A holiday with Zoroastrian roots, Nowruz is celebrated in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and parts of India and […]

Chechnya

How Moscow Terror Attack fits ISIL-K Strategy to Widen Agenda against Perceived Enemies

The Conversation

By Sara Harmouch, American University, and Amira Jadoon, Clemson University | – Russia is reeling from the worst terror strike on its soil in a generation following an attack on March 22, 2024, that killed at least 137 concertgoers in Moscow. The attack has been claimed by the Islamic State group. And despite Russian authorities […]

Algeria

The Middle East Ranks at the Bottom of Gallup’s Happiness Index, except for Rich Oil States; is the US to Blame?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The annual Gallup report on happiness by country came out this week. It is based on a three-year average of polling. What struck me in their report is how unhappy the Middle East is. The only Middle Eastern country in the top twenty is Kuwait (for the first time in […]

Israel/ Palestine

Echos of our Lost Home in Gaza

Global Voices

By Haneen Abo Soad | – The author’s four-generation land and home were destroyed by Israeli F16 rockets in January, reducing it to rubble. Photo provided by the author, used with permission. ( Globalvoices.org ) – On January 12, a message arrived from my sister in Gaza, bearing the devastating news: our parents’ home, a […]

Featured

Purim at the Time of Genocide

Yakov M. Rabkin

Montréal (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The Jewish holiday of Purim, related in the Book of Esther, celebrates deliverance from a genocide. How to celebrate it when death and starvation kill thousands in Gaza, and the holiday’s rhetoric, namely the memory of the archenemy Amalek, is being used by Israeli politicians responsible for it? […]

Donald Trump

Jared Kushner’s Shameful Remarks on Gaza: “I would do my best to move the people out”

Ramona Wadi

( Middle East Monitor ) – “It’s unfortunate that no one’s taking in the refugees,” lamented former White House advisor during the Trump administration Jared Kushner. He made his comment during an interview at Harvard University last month. The reason? Gaza is being eyed as potential space for valuable waterfront property, so why shouldn’t Israel […]

Displaced and Refugees

The Prospect of Mass Famine in Gaza is beginning to Change Minds in Washington

Juan Cole

By Jonathan Este, The Conversation | – (The Conversation) – As the casualty count on the Gaza Strip approaches 32,000 people, in itself a terrible and distressing statistic, another number also stood out this week. It is reported that in the past week, more than 100 aid workers have been killed. Twenty-three on March 19 […]